Not to be outdone, a rival to the dome/town at UNLV has emerged. The $1.5 Billion complex, called the Las Vegas Sports Center, would consist of three separate venues instead of one multipurpose domed stadium. Included would be a NBA/NHL-quality arena, a 50,000-seat football stadium for UNLV football, and a 9,000-seat partially covered baseball stadium for the AAA 51s. The area targeted for the project is near downtown, the same area which has been bandied about for a new arena and a new MLB domed stadium in the past. The ballpark could be expanded to MLB capacity, though with the way it would be constructed it’s hard to see how it would work. Architecturally, all three venues would have large arches from which tensile roofs would be partly suspended. Heading up the plan is a group called International Development Management, with 360 Architecture doing up the plans. The scary bit? It’s quite possible that the UNLV Now domed stadium concept could approach the cost of the three purpose-built venues simply due to the cost of the technology that would be used.
VTA has an idea for finding operating funds for Caltrain’s 2011-12 year: take it out of the electrification and stalled Dumbarton Rail Corridor projects. The Dumbarton project would rebuild the abandoned rail bridge south of the existing vehicular bridge and provide rail between Union City and Redwood City. Interestingly, this redheaded stepchild of public transit (VTA took from it for BART-to-San Jose) may receive renewed interest now that Facebook has announced plans to move its 2,000-employees-and-rising from Palo Alto to the former “Sun Quentin” campus in Menlo Park. A planned station would be situated adjacent to some land that Facebook bought for parking or a campus expansion.
Blowback from the Super Bowl seating scandal continues with one fan looking to sue the NFL and Jerry Jones. Also suing: Cowboys premium season ticket holders who got limited view seats. All this hubbub reminds me of a friend who lives in Chicago. A few years ago, he got Super Bowl tickets as his family had Bears season tickets for several generations. The weekend of the big game, a family friend died and they were forced to cancel the trip. Let’s calm down and have a little perspective, shall we?
The Rangers announced that they are raising single game ticket prices. We can call that the Beltre-not-Lee Tax.
Five Cal sports may not face the axe after all, thanks to complications arising from Title IX compliance. Short $25 million in the budget for the next 5-10 years, the University chose to target men’s and women’s gymnastics, women’s lacrosse, men’s baseball, and men’s rugby squads for elimination. The organization Save Cal Baseball, which has been renamed Save Cal Sports in a show of solidarity, has raised $16 million, which should be enough to keep all five teams running for at least the next four years. The university decides the fates of the teams on Thursday. Update 2/10 1:45 PM: The University has put off the decision for the time being and is telling people to “stay tuned.”
Update 2/10 2:49 PM – MSFC will replace the roof at a cost $18 million, holding the Vikings to their last year on the Metrodome lease. The cost of the replacement will be mostly covered by insurance. Update 2/10 12:27 AM – A report to be issued to the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission will show that the H.H.H. Metrodome’s roof was damaged so extensively in December that it cannot be repaired and must be replaced at a cost of $18 million. This news will only serve to advance talk of either replacing the Dome with a new stadium somewhere in the Twin Cities area or a threat of a Vikings move to Los Angeles. And since I can’t get enough of watching the Dome’s roof collapse…
newballpark.org 
Wait, Men’s Rugby? I thought Mens Rugby was a club, not a school sport organization? Also, isn’t Cal’s Rugby team kind of famous? Like, one of the best in the world (or at least the best in the US) famous?
Rugby union has been a scholarship sport for 31 years, and Cal has won 25 NCAA championships. Cal is further handicapped this year in that they have no home field because of the Memorial Stadium retrofit, so they’re basically barnstorming, kicking ass and taking names the whole way. Their “home” matches are being played in SF and Treasure Island.
Correct. Cal Rugby is arguably their most successful sport and they were demoting it from full sport to club status. Completely ridiculous proposition, glad they got saved.
ML I don’t think that is correct. Cal rugby plays their games up above the stadium in the canyon. They typically never play in Memorial Stadium.
@Dan – Witter Field is being repurposed as a staging area because of Memorial Stadium construction.
ML – is the Facebook land you mentioned that empty lot across Bayfront from the campus (and to the west of Willow)? There’s an unused underpass that connects that plot to the former Sun campus and I’ve always wondered why it was built. I guess Sun had plans to someday expand over there and built it in anticipation of that. It’s a good place for a station between Facebook and the myriad offices and warehouses in the immediate vicinity.
@Dude – That’s the one. GM was the previous owner of that parcel from what I heard.
vikes should just play at univ of min’s field as they did for their last game. min football should be play outdoors.
surely they can spend a fraction it’d take to replace the dome for underground heat coils for the college field. now the city itself may want to rebuild the dome due to keeping the metrodome a viable venue for other events during the winter but if the vikes will ever build a new stadium somewhere in min, gotta be open air.
still no word yet on 860’s sale eh?
Univ of Minn’s stadium is not NFL ready. It doesn’t have enough suites, doesn’t have the heated field, isn’t large enough, doesn’t have the infrastructure around it for a larger stadium, and most importantly, it’s outdoors (and if that game proved anything it’s that Minnesotans won’t come out for outdoor football in Winter).
Not to mention that it only seats 50,000.
OK, I guess you did kind of mention that, sorry.
Hey ML, Rick Tittle just announced he’s gonna have Lew Wolff himself on the show today…it just started but I think he’s gonna have have him on at 11:00…I’m definitely gonna be glued to the radio
Cal drops baseball and mens gymnastics- unbelievable that a Pac 12 school does not have baseball
Is there anyway to stream KTRB online or am I screwed?
Gojohn10, KTRB supposedly have a stream on their website but its pretty flakey. Try looking for the Sportsbyline USA stream on a different web radio site…hurry, the second part is starting now!
sportsbyline stream worked. Thanks!
interesting interview. I think Rick and Lew were playing “nice” with each other. Tittle is usually “over-the-top” in his Oakland only bias. When Lew was asked specifically about Oakland, whether there was any chance or hope, he didn’t say no. But of course, he used his alien comes down to the bay area, what it choose? SJ of course …
Just a piece on the recently retired Bob DuPuy if you’re interested. There isn’t anything new concerning the BRC besides this:
“DuPuy said the committee’s work is “ongoing” and that the situation is not yet resolved. “All I can do is echo the Commissioner, who said that the committee is getting close,” DuPuy said. “So I’ll stick with him.”
.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110210&content_id=16613328&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb
typo; resigned* not retired.
@Briggs thanks for giving us that link but I’ve heard the statement “we’re getting close” for the past 1.5 years 🙂
Maybe as part of the deal for San Jose Neukom could be promised DuPuy’s old gig. MLB President seems like the perfect job for a big time attorney. I mean, he’s won a WS Championship with the Giants and is making money hand over fist, what more could he want?
No, he’s not going to get the Bay Area to himself.
Yeah, they’ve been “getting close” for a while now. It’s kinda like one of Zeno’s paradoxes. By that logic, if you’re constantly in the process of moving closer, you’ll never reach your destination.
Briggs,
Just my opinion, but again, if we are to believe Wolff, the committees work is already complete.
Perhaps what we’re getting “close” to is the actual decision on the T-Rights. “Situation is not yet resolved” sounds like something being negotiated to me, not something be studied still.
Again, just my opinion.
An MP3/podcast link is up for those who want to download the interview. I just got it myself, I’ll have a quick post shortly after I finish listening.